Monthly Archives: December 2014

The holidays are almost upon us and before you know it, they’ll be over and gone. However, even so it’s never too late for a fast and easy cookie making. Why? Well, here are 3 reasons for the baking of this particular lacy and delicate treat.

They are a cinch to make

They will fill your home with a magnificent scent

They are versatile as to the ingredients and therefore I bet that you have them all in your pantry/refrigerator—so no shopping.

They are perfect to take for your cross country ski outing on our BCRD (Blaine County Recreation District) trails now that they and the weather are getting rather perfect.

Ingredients Needed:

One cup all-purpose flour

Half teaspoon coarse salt (regular is fine as well)

One cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp or if you only have the salted kind, omit the half tsp. salt

Three-quarters cup packed brown sugar—dark is better but if you only have light, that’s OK

One egg yolk

Two-thirds finely chopped nuts of your choice (I used almonds and I lightly toasted mine. I also used my small Cuisinart to finely chop them.)

Nut halves and larger pieces for last minute before baking décor.

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper if you have that; if not, try to use a Teflon sheet and if you don’t have that, lightly grease your sheet.

Cream the butter with the sugar in a medium sized bowl. When the batter is nice and smooth mix in the egg yolk till well combined. I used my electric beaters to do all of the aforementioned and then, you will be using something like a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to add in the well chopped nuts. Stir again till well combined.

In a separate bowl, sift and flour and salt or put the flour and salt in a sifter and add the dry ingredients to your creamed butter concoction; mix till well combined.

The dough will not be really thick and that’s OK because you are going to drop medium size spoonfuls onto your lined cookie sheets— 3 horizontally and 3 inches apart because they do tend to spread and onward down on whatever size sheet that you are using. When your sheet has the spoonfuls of dough on it, place a half nut or some smaller slices of nuts into the top of each spoonful.

Bake for 12-15 minutes; if using two cookie sheets, rotate them half way through.

You want to watch carefully at the 12 minute point to see that they don’t get too brown.

Let them rest for a minute or so on the cookie sheet and then place the cookies on a rack to cool.

Store in an airtight container if need be—however, I bet they’ll all be gone before you have a chance to do that.

Spiced nuts are so easy to make; they are an easy, lovely little treat to give to someone you like for the holidays. Here are 3 simple recipes that you can make in a jiffy and of course, if I were you, I would keep some of these nuts for myself because of course I hope that you like to treat yourself as well. Any kinds of nuts would suffice for these recipes; however, I have mentioned the ones that I like the most for each individual recipe.

Nuts Recipe #1:Sugar and Spice Nuts (This is very tasty with raw cashews and raw almonds)

3/4 C. sugar

1 Tblsp Kosher salt

1 Tbslp chili powder

2 Tsp. cinnamon

2 Tsp. cayenne pepper

1 large egg white

4 Cups raw cashews and almonds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300.

In a small bowl, whisk the sugar with the salt, chili powder, cinnamon and cayenne pepper.

In a large bowl, beat the egg white until frothy.

Add the nuts to the egg white along with the sugar combo.

Mix well until all the nuts are well coated.

Spread out on a parchment covered cookie sheet and bake for about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.